Automated Acoustic Detection of River Herring Spawning Activity

Acoustic recordings of spawning splashes were collected from March to May 2021 in the Choptank River, Maryland, using an AudioMoth recorder. Recordings were analyzed using a random forest model on the RFCx-ARBIMON platform to determine hourly presence-absence of splashes. Recording were also analyzed for the presence of predators (Great Blue Herons Ardea herodias, Bald Eagles Haliaeetus leucocephalus, and Ospreys Pandion haliaetus) using the RFCx Arbimon Pattern Matching algorithm.